Our flight touched down in Izmir, Turkey late in the night, after several days in Cappadocia. We lost all sense of where we were (an extremely common occurrence, while on this trip) as we traversed the narrow backstreets and hills...

We spent several days exploring Cappadocia, in the central part of Turkey. It’s a dream-like landscape that looks literally out of this world. Thousands of little smoke-stack spires rise from the desert moonscape with little basalt caps on them that...

A gulet is, by definition, a large traditional Turkish wooden sailing vessel, made with 2-3 masts that sails the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. Our boat was the lovely Casa dell’Arte, which is also the name of one of Brandy’s...

On our journey, we have now been to a Christian church, Hindu temple, Buddhist monastery (many!) and really wanted to experience a Muslim prayer service inside of a mosque. As Brayden shared in his post, but a quick refresher...

At times on this trip, I have thought we were whirling dervishes, spinning around our voyage and living deeply immersed in each and every moment with no care or concern for anything other than what comes next… I now realize...

Today, we visited many mosques and monuments in Istanbul, Turkey. On our way to the Blue Mosque we had a ton of trouble getting through traffic. We learned that in Istanbul there are 15 Million people living there, which...

Ok, it’s long and complicated and I am helping pinch-hit for Brooke on this overview… meaning, forgive any inaccuracies or nonsense that are all mine (Brad’s). The story of Turkey is amazing, and it’s a remarkably dynamic region with an...

Today in Istanbul, we went on a boat ride, we visited the mosque named Rustem Pasha, we strolled through the spice market, and had a grand, but bizarre, visit to the Grand Bazaar. First, we went on a private boat...

Day One: Yes, that is snow on the rooftops. Bbbbrrrrrr: Hermitage Museum and Winter Palace: Peter/Pauls Cathedral and Hare Island: A fun boat ride through the canals and rivers of St. Petersburg: Day Two: The Peterhof Palace or...